Partial building collapse near Miami

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said there are 102 people who have been accounted for following the partial collapse of a building in Surfside.

"I want to give you a top number, very encouraging, 102 people have been accounted for. That's double what we were able to report last time," Levine Cava said at a news conference this afternoon. "One hundred and two people from the towers, their locations are known and they are safe.

The mayor said there are still at least 99 people who are unaccounted for following the building collapse.

Law enforcement officials are providing an update right now on the building collapse in Surfside, Florida.

According to spokesperson from the department, at least 99 people are unaccounted for after the collapse.

Two people from the building collapse in Surfside are being treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital, said Tania Leets-Santana, a Jackson Health System spokesperson.

The hospital is not releasing further information on them, Leets-Santana said in an email statement to CNN. 

Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center medical staff are working on-site at the collapse with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department and other local officials, according to the statement.

State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis tells CNN that tactical units working the collapsed building heard sounds from the rubble earlier today as they did search and rescue efforts.

Patronis said that rescuers heard an individual earlier today in the parking garage area that they are having difficulty getting to.

Patronis described what search and rescue units are experiencing in the building.

“It’s like going to the gym but it’s not air conditioned, trying to remove rubble but at the same time fearful that the debris around you could come down on you. There’s flooding, there’s fuel, there’s unstable ground, in addition, the challenge of the urgency of saving lives,” he said. 

Patronis said that this remains an active rescue mission as they determine how much further they can go safely into the building.

Ninety-nine people are unaccounted for after the partial building collapse in Surfside, Florida, according to Miami-Dade Police Department spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta.

Previous reports were that 51 people were unaccounted for in the incident at the Champlain Towers South condominiums.

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National Basketball Association's Miami Heat helped distribute bottles of water and snacks to emergency workers at the site of the partial building collapse in Surfside, Florida, the team confirmed to CNN.

Heat player Tyler Herro, assistant coaches Chris Quinn and Eric Glass, director of basketball administration Scott Gurka, and vice president/executive director of Miami Heat charitable fund Steve Stowe were the members on site helping on Thursday.

World Central Kitchen and Direct Relief, both who are recipients of the Heat's charitable arm, were also on hand at the scene. World Central Kitchen is feeding first responders and Direct Relief is helping displaced residents.

Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman described the scene at the Champlain Towers collapse as “devastating.” Bal Harbour is around a mile north of Surfside, Florida, where the collapse occurred.

Groisman, who toured the site of the collapse with the governor and other elected officials, said what struck him was the silence at the scene. 

“What stood out was the quiet,” he said. “To see the building just sitting there in just silence, you know the unfortunate truth of the fact there are many people that are in that rubble and all you hear is silence. And it’s really deafening.” 

Officials said search and rescue efforts could take nearly a week. At least 51 people who are assumed to live in the building are unaccounted for, officials said, but it's unclear if any of them were home at the time of the collapse.

Groisman said he lived in the building from 1983 to 1991 and described it as one “that generally, at least from the outside, seems to be in good condition.”

The community is largely Jewish, Groisman said, and the building is mostly occupied by senior citizens and young families. 

Groisman revealed he knows a number of people who are unaccounted for, adding that the community is “tight knit.”

President Biden said that federal resources, including assistance from FEMA, are "ready to go" to respond to the building collapse in Surfside, Florida, and that they're waiting for Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency.

Biden noted that his chief of staff Ron Klain is heavily involved along with members of his Cabinet to make sure federal resources are ready to be deployed.

"My chief of staff has been deeply involved in this from the very beginning. We got the cabinet involved in it now in terms of dealing with FEMA. We're working on it. I made it clear, I say to the people of Florida, 'Whatever help you want that the federal government can provide, we're waiting, just ask us, we'll be there,'" Biden said.

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The consulates of two countries, Venezuela and Argentina, say that a number of their citizens are missing in the Surfside, Florida, building collapse. 

Brian Fincheltub, Venezuela's consular affairs director, wrote on Twitter that they have identified four citizens that are in the building.  

"We are already in contact with the authorities that are searching and their families," he went onto say.

In a press release published on Twitter, Argentina's consulate in Miami said that nine citizens are currently missing.